The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1887-10-29
A NATION OF TEA DRINKERS.
Food and Drink of the Russians-vodAa,
Vegetables. Rye Bread and Tea,

Food and Drink of the Russians-Vodka,
Vegetables, Rye Bread and Tea.
The Russians are nation of tea
drinkers; coffee is rare; tea is universal,
and universally good. The best tea |
ever drank was in Russia; they drink it
at all hours, and without regard to guam
tity-sometimes ten cups at a sitting, and
yet, apparently, with impunity. Brass
urns, in which tea water is boiled by
means of charcoal fire, are found over
all the empire; they are called samovars,
and found it important to include in my
Russian vocabulary the word s'samovar. "
Their method of making and drinking tea
has been noticed by all travellers in their
country.
They claim that water at the boiling
point is destructive to the good qualities
of tea, SO they draw their tea with water
just below that point. They use thin
glass tumblers, with ordinary saucers;
sometimes the women use cups, but the
men never; the tea is poured into sau-
GERS, which are held on the upturned
ends of the thumb and fingers of the
right hand; milk and cream are rarely
used; block of cut sugar is held in the
left hand, from which they nibble pieces,
as they slowly sip their delicious, wine
colored tea.
These people are called by the Germans
the ''Onion Russians" because of the
quantity of onions they eat; they might,
with more propriety, be called a nation
of cucumber eaters. Cucumbers are
raised in great quantities, of excellent
quality, and may be found, picked, any
where between Behring Strait and the
Baltic. Cucumber water is favorite
hot weather beverage, OF, if you will
permit a Celticism, they make their
lemonade from cucumbers. This light
beverage, however, is not sufficient to
allay the thirst of the mujik; from his
abundant rye he makes a powerful
brandy, called vodka; that it is high
proof is well attested by the numerous
drunken men over which one must tread
in the streets.
Though I saw in many gardens good
potatoes, cabbages, radishes and turnips,
the much maligned sunfiower was the
only apology I saw for Horticulture. Its
seeds are esteemed a great delicacy by
the young people, and are found for sale
in every shop. We may regard the sun
flower seeds as the peanuts of the Rus
sian peasantry.
Their agricultural implements are of
the rudest character. Grass is cut with
straight, shapeless blades, made at the
country blacksmith's shop, and attached
to the end of a straight stick. The
women do the harvesting; the grain is
cut with sickles, as it was cut 5000 years
ago; the ground is plowed with roots,
and narrowed with the limbs of trees;
the grain is threshed with fail
Black rye bread is the staple article of
food throughout the empire. The peas
ants live largely on a vegetable diet, meat
being reserved for the holidays; they sell
dom use knife and fork, but wooden
spoon for liquid food, and the fingers for
anything else.
On one occasion something was
placed before me as sat at the samovar
making my tea; l glanced furtively and
hesitatingly at it, whereupon the woman
of the house threw back an upper crust
with her fingers, and revealed steaming
conglomeration of Sittle fishes, and en-
couraged me with reassuring ''Horosho;
horosho;" good; good. The fishes were
uneviscerated, unbeheaded- short, I'M
dressed; but on discovering among them
the familiar countenance of a little pick
erel, and determined not to offend the
hospitality of my hostess, after the fashion
of little Jack Horner, l extracted the
pickerel, ate him up, and true to the
hypocritical etiquette of my country, I,
too, said: "Horosho; horosho;" when
the thing was positively abominable.-
James Picalton in Outing.